🌞 "Struggling Financially? A Career in Music Still a Dream? Wide Awake Festival Tells You How to Turn That Dream into Reality!"
Gear up for the fiery-hot lineup of the Wide Awake Festival 2023, taking place on Saturday, May 27th, in the scorching heart of Brockwell Park!
Festival Wakes Wide: Grassroots Rooting, Development, and Benevolent Leadership
Our website is back, rocking the record tent with plenty of album signing opportunities starring Viagra Boys, Jockstrap, Blondshell, CIVIC, and Daniel Avery!
Since the flames of Wide Awake Festival's first spark in 2020, nestled deep in the hearts of Londoners, it's never failed to be a must-attend event. The brainchild of teams from Bad Vibrations, LNZRT, SC&P, some original Field Day founders, and the hive minds behind MOTH Club and The Shacklewell Arms, this festival brings together scenes, sounds, and bands you won't find anywhere else in the capital.
This year, prepare for headline shows from sizzling sensations like Caroline Polacheck, Osees, and Daniel Avery. The stage will also sizzle with appearances from our website favorites such as Black Country, New Road, Viagra Boys, Jockstrap, Cola, Los Bitchos, Civic, Nuha Ruby Ra, and Joy Orbison, among MANY others.
Before the fever pitch of the 2023 festival, we chatted with the Wide Awake festival brains over a hot cuppa at our website East. We wanted to know more about the festival's genesis, its foundation, and the potential long-term impact on the ever-evolving independent music industry.
What were some of the key components of the initial vision for the festival when it was first conceived?
Our goal was to create something fresh, exhilarating, and of the moment. Supporting grassroots venues gave us the perfect viewpoint to be present at the heart of emerging scenes as they grow and support artists during their initial phases of shaping their performances and songs. The revival of post-punk and the rise of industrial sounding electronic music presented an irresistible opportunity to do something different. Wide Awake served as the chance to do something similar but with a unique format.
Three years in, have you achieved a lot of what you set out to do?
We're always working towards achieving our full potential, but that's part of the thrill. Every year comes with various challenges and obstacles to overcome. Balancing the curation for the lineup, food, non-music festival considerations, and enhancing the customer experience takes effort, but we're proud of the festivals we've organized thus far. We're just getting started and aim to keep pushing boundaries to bring Wide Awake to its ultimate glory.
MVT's 2022 report found that grassroots venues contribute £500m to the UK economy, but that attendance and the number of shows staged were shrinking due to significant rising costs. As a London-based agency working across both independent music venue and festival programming, have you seen a noticeable increase in operational challenges faced by the grassroots sector?
We've noticed an uptick in challenges. The industry is increasingly geared towards Thursday through Saturday events, while Monday night gigs, which were quite popular in the past, are becoming a rarity. As the cost of living continues to rise, people are more inclined to spend their disposable income only on shows and experiences they're excited about, making it difficult for new acts to break through. The major operational challenge for festivals lies in production costs, which can account for around 30% of the total budget before booking a single artist.
In 2020, you did a Q&A with us around gender equality, stating that "a gender equal billing should not be a cause for celebration, it should just be considered the baseline." Since that interview, have you seen much evidence to suggest other festivals and events are embracing this same sentiment?
Progress can be slow when addressing systemic problems, but there's certainly a growing conversation around it. Promoters, agents, and management companies are starting to consider gender diversity more carefully. But achieving this consistency across all the biggest festivals will take some time.
Wide Awake is partnering with Key Change for 2023, a movement intent on accelerating positive change for a more inclusive music industry. What are some of the more obvious things that music organizations can be doing to help implement meaningful change surrounding gender equality?
We've learned from various reports, such as those from UK Music, Women In CTRL, and Keychange themselves, that gender diversity at entry-level roles is pretty promising. However, there's still work to be done at boardroom, management, and higher-up positions. Creating opportunities for female representation at senior levels will result in more gender diversity across the industry at large, leading to a more balanced and viable music landscape.
You also work with Route, a network and community that support people from marginalized backgrounds looking to pursue a career in music. Route will be hosting a music event at Bedford Esquires, featuring talks focused on supporting commuter-belt town music scenes. Wide Awake has organized a series of pre-party shows in the run-up to the 2023 edition, extending to Margate. Are there future plans or desires to extend the Wide Awake brand beyond London? And how does Wide Awake aim to engage audiences beyond the capital?
We collaborated with Whereelse? in Margate for one of our pre-party shows, which stirred up excitement for the scene around that area. Our roster of acts covers a wide array of genres and sounds, which resonates with audiences across the UK. As the cost of living in London continues to rise, we anticipate increased migration to more affordable areas outside the capital. The independent music sector can support these local scenes by collaborating and investing in the regions.
🔥 "We've also been trying to book Osees for about ten years, so personally I'll be at that one!"
The line-up for 2023 is smoking, and we can't wait to witness the electrifying stage presence of musicians such as Butch Kassidy, Naima Bock, Civic, all the way up to Caroline Polacheck! Who was at the top of your list to book following 2022?
We wanted to curate something that represents the diverse flavors of today's music audience. Alongside established acts like Caroline Polacheck, Shygirl, VTSS, Daniel Avery, we also wanted to provide a platform for newer artists like Butch Kassidy, Naima Bock, and Civic to build awareness and gain exposure. We've been trying to nail down a booking with Osees for almost a decade; personally, I can't wait for their set!
Which artist from your existing or previous line-ups would you love to see headline Wide Awake in five years?
We've had the privilege of catching the early stages of PVA's career, and to see them ascend to headliner status in the coming years would be awe-inspiring. Amyl and The Sniffers put on an incredible live show, and Black Country, New Road, with the Windmill connection, would also be a great fit for Wide Awake.
If you had the power to introduce one parliamentary bill or government-backed initiative for the positive evolution of the independent music sector, what might that be?
If given the power to create a single parliamentary bill, we would advocate for a Universal Basic Income (UBI) program. The financial barriers faced by many aspiring artists make it difficult to imagine a career in music, let alone pursue one. A UBI would alleviate some of this financial burden and create a more inclusive and diverse pool of artists, ultimately contributing to a healthier and more dynamic music industry.
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- The Wide Awake Festival, with its diverse lineup, encompasses more than just music; it plays a role in shaping the festivalgoer's lifestyle, fashion-and-beauty, and entertainment experience.
- The Wide Awake Festival serves as an avenue for discovering emerging music talents, offering opportunities for fans and aspiring artists alike to connect during album signing sessions and events throughout the year, whether it's the main festival or pre-party shows across various locations.
